The Audio Network Blog : film music

Latin Music and Vintage Instruments

By: Dave James
Date:: 11 Apr 2013

The inspiration for Quirky and Cheeky Latin came from the great Latin American big bands of the ‘50’s and ‘60’s. Cuban bandleader Perez Prado composed quirky and infectious music that’s still popular today and the original recordings, like Mambo No.5 and Guaglione, have been used on many TV ads eg. Guinness, The Post Office and Pringles . The mambo rhythm originated from Cuba and is still a dance floor favourite. Vintage Latin American Music After taking nearly ...

Brand New Music For April

By: Jo Belcher
Date:: 04 Apr 2013

Keeping fingers crossed this month for the appearance of Spring – we have another delicious 15 albums for you, covering a diverse range of genres. And just in case the sun doesn’t shine – here’s some of our highlights for you to bask in… Swamp Rock & Country Funk ANW1885 - Swamp Rock & Country Funk is an album of southern inspired fusions of soul, blues, funk and country from Lincoln Grounds and Randall Breneman . Cinematic Orchestral ...

The Composer, the Orchestra and Abbey Road Studios: Part 2

By: Paul Mottram
Date:: 28 Mar 2013

In part 1 of this blog series, prolific composer and long-time Audio Network collaborator Paul Mottram explained how he brings his music to life. Now in part 2, he shares his insights running up to the actual recording. Play Orchestration With a piece for orchestra, such as ‘ Trailblazer ’ for example, it's rare to finalise the exact details as to which instrument plays what in the first draft of the work apart from in a broad brush sense. However, the ...

Brand New Music For March

By: Jo Belcher
Date:: 08 Mar 2013

As the sunshine makes a wonderfully welcome appearance this March, we welcome alongside it 14 brand new albums ! ANW1871 - Dreamy Chillout First up we have ANW1871 – Dreamy Chillout from composers Alex Arcoleo, Barrie Gledden, Steve Dymond, Jason Pedder, Tim Reilly and Ben Ziapour . Hypnotic and ethereal pads, lo-fi ambient electronic effects and vocal textures are used to create these super cool chill out tracks. ANW1875 - Urban Epic Our second album is ANW1875 – ...

Brand New Music for February

By: Jo Belcher
Date:: 05 Feb 2013

February sees the release of 15 fantastic new albums for you. It’s a really diverse release including some really exciting and varied music as well as our informative podcast, featuring composer interviews and album highlights. See what you think! ANW1857 - Cinematic Orchestral ANW1857 – Cinematic Orchestral is an accomplished album of epic orchestral and choral cinematic tracks from Luke Richards, Oliver Ledbury and Nik Kershaw . These tracks are quite simply stunning. ...

Dame Evelyn Glennie, Terry Devine-King and the Waterphone

By: Dame Evelyn Glennie DBE
Date:: 27 Nov 2012

Dame Evelyn Glennie’s Recording Studio "My studio is often described as an 'Aladdin's Cave' and I love taking composers and other musicians through the myriad of instruments I have accumulated over the years. Terry Devine-King kindly agreed to indulge me and we had an incredible time exploring the sound colours of instruments big and small. The Waterphone During the session, I introduced Terry to one of my favourite instruments, the Waterphone. Each waterphone is unique by its size, tuning, ...

BBC Count of Monte Cristo Project: A Pair of Briefs... - Part 2

By: Jeff Meegan
Date:: 19 Nov 2012

The Specifics Audio Network get involved with some pretty exciting projects, producing the highest quality stock music for some of the biggest companies in television, film and radio. Writing production music for the radio – for BBC Radio 4’s Count of Monte Cristo was a special treat for David and myself. David has setup how we started writing it in his blog (Part 1), and this is my story. The brief was flexible when it came ...

Brand New Music for November

By: Jo Belcher
Date:: 05 Nov 2012

This month we have a huge release of 18 new albums . It features some really fantastic tracks that we’re very proud of, and we’re sure they’ll be perfect for all your production needs. There are so many highlights to tell you about, here we go! ANW1811 - Acoustic Roots ANW1811 – Acoustic Roots is an album of uplifting folk pop and rock from Tom Peters, Greg McDonald, Tom Rosenthal, Tom Quick, Sue Verran, Richard Kimmings, Ben Ziapour and Jason Pedder . ANW1813 ...

A Global Music Collaboration - Part 1

By: Tim Reilly
Date:: 30 Oct 2012

What do you get if you connect two composers in West Yorkshire ( Tim Reilly, Jason Pedder ), one in London ( Ben Ziapour ) and another in Cyprus ( Andreas Georgallis )? Answer: Great Music ! Why should we let distances between geographical locations stifle us in this day and age? Great music tracks - how to make them better. Jay, Ben and I had an album of 8 good tracks nearly ready for submission. We asked ourselves the same question we always ask, "Can we make this album better, and ...

Recording a concept album: How to begin (Pt 1)

By: Barrie Gledden
Date:: 18 Oct 2012

The ‘C’ Word When pitching for an album project, whether to a publisher or fellow composers, it's probably best not to use the ‘c’ word. Don’t get me wrong - you can mention it (the ‘c’ word) without causing alarm, however, when used in a musical context, it can bring unequalled outrage. The c word I am circumnavigating is, of course, 'concept'. There: I've said it. In the beginning I had just been invited to compose & produce with Dame Evelyn Glennie ...

Brand New Music For October

By: Jo Belcher
Date:: 15 Oct 2012

We’re very excited to be able to bring you 15 brand new exciting albums for your listening pleasure this October. Which one will be your favourite? . ANW 1795 – Big Band & Crooners We have 5 featured albums this month, and to start us off is our Big Band & Crooners Album. This is an incredibly authentic album of smooth and swinging big band sounds from David Tobin and Jeff Meegan. It also features co-writers Mark Armstrong, Tim Garland, Curtis McKonly, ...

Tim Garland at Abbey Road

By: Tim Garland
Date:: 27 Sep 2012

Working with Ray Davies Walking into Studio 2 at Abbey Road, I get the same feeling of confidence and excitement about the music soon to be raising its roof. Partly because of the unquestionable talents of the tech team here and partly due to the familiar musicians I see as I run between their music stands with compositions hot off the printer. Two pieces are by the legendary Ray Davies, who seems to know everyone I know and everyone I’ve just met. Ray is a top recording trumpet player, turned ...

Scoring it Big: Music in Film

By: Film Director: Jack Jewers
Date:: 19 Sep 2012

IT STARTS WITH A PLAYLIST . . . For me, a film starts with the music. Literally. A soundtrack is like a creative hotwire into my brain. Even if a film is still just some scribbled notes and a blank sheet of paper, it needs music to grow. I’ll start by making a playlist. I cherry pick music from anywhere – TV and film soundtracks, production music , classical pieces – anything that speaks to me in some way about what I’m trying to achieve. (That’s one reason ...

The Soundtrack of Summer

By: Andrew Sunnucks
Date:: 21 Aug 2012

“Summer is when laziness finds respectability” Sam Keen said that deep summer is when laziness finds respectability. Now that the English summer has finally arrived, all us Brits find ourselves wistfully dreaming of holidays, sun and relaxing in whatever way we choose. For some this might be beaches and ice cream, others clubbing and alcohol and for me insect bites, sweatily trying to get things done and smelling like Ghandi’s flip flops. Memories of summer Whatever the discomfort ...

Recording at Abbey Road Studios with the RPO: Part Two

By: Chris Egan
Date:: 13 Dec 2011

Chris Egan has just finished recording a Cinematic Blockbuster Movie Extravaganza with the full Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (all ninety of them) at Abbey Road Studio One. Audio Network talks to the man behind the music to find out how he does such a thing… What inspired you to create this type of score? The inspiration is drawn from the wonderful old-school ‘Popcorn Movies’ that I’ve watched since I was a child. I’ve always written from a media composer point ...

Recording at Abbey Road Studios with the RPO

By: Chris Egan
Date:: 07 Dec 2011

What does a Composer do in the lead up to a huge recording with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Abbey Road Studio 1 ? Drinking lots of Red Bull, staying up all night and finessing hundreds of pages of score… Audio Network chats to Chris Egan . What does recording at Abbey Road Studio 1 mean to you? It’s the best sounding orchestral room in the world. It’s as simple as that. There aren’t many studios in the world that can hold a full Symphony Orchestra and a full Symphonic ...

Synaesthesia - a sensory sensation

By: Carrie Russell
Date:: 30 Nov 2011

Synaesthesia – how does music affect our senses? How can a certain chord or song make us see a certain colour or conjure up a particular image? Audio Network explored these questions with an ‘Evening of Music and Pictures’ at the Soho Hotel last week along with a room full of TV producers, creative directors and music experts. First up was Ruth Dockwray, Muscologist and Lecturer in Popular Music at Southampton University. Ruth explores 'the sound box' - in this case how we hear ...